


Hold Onto Me

by raes_ramblings



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmare Comfort, trauma mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-12 16:48:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28763580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raes_ramblings/pseuds/raes_ramblings
Summary: The room was abnormally still as Byakuya woke up. He blinked for a moment, a feeling of eerie uneasiness washing over him. Something felt wrong. The room around him was quiet and dark, and while that was normally how he’d prefer to sleep, now it just felt ominous. In the years you’d been together, Byakuya had gotten used to the frequent tossing and turning beside him. He’d almost grown fond of it; it served as a sign that you were still there with him.Spurred by its absence, he reached his arms out to check on you, only to find your side of the bed cold to the touch. How long had you been gone?Muttering to himself uncomfortably, he rolled over and stood to his feet to search for you. Wandering in the middle of the night could only mean one thing, and he had to find you before you tried to deal with it alone for any longer.
Relationships: Togami Byakuya/Reader
Comments: 1
Kudos: 41





	Hold Onto Me

_“She wakes in the night and whispers_

_Oh, so quiet_

_Hold onto me, hold onto me_

_Don’t you ever leave, don’t you ever leave_

_I know I’ve got my problems and it’s probably me_

_So hold onto me, hold onto me_

_Stayed up too late and it hurts to breathe_

_Said it’s 4 A.M. girl, go back to sleep_

_Sometimes at night, I can hear her dreams_

_Come rescue me, come rescue me_

_Don’t you ever leave, don’t you ever leave”_

-

The room was abnormally still as Byakuya woke up. He blinked for a moment, a feeling of eerie uneasiness washing over him. Something felt wrong. The room around him was quiet and dark, and while that was normally how he’d prefer to sleep, now it just felt ominous. In the years you’d been together, Byakuya had gotten used to the frequent tossing and turning beside him. He’d almost grown fond of it; it served as a sign that you were still there with him. 

Spurred by its absence, he reached his arms out to check on you, only to find your side of the bed cold to the touch. How long had you been gone? 

Muttering to himself uncomfortably, he rolled over and stood to his feet to search for you. Wandering in the middle of the night could only mean one thing, and he had to find you before you tried to deal with it alone for any longer.

It was common for him to wake up in the middle of the night to find you awake and busying yourself on your phone, but you only got up when you were having a particularly bad night. On nights like those, he’d find you roaming aimlessly around the house, trying to focus on anything other than the pain and discomfort in your mind. On nights like those, you needed him the most. 

He didn’t have to go too far to find you. Opening the heavy wooden door of your shared bedroom, the moonlight from the hall window revealing your hiding spot.

Your trembling form sat curled up on the window seat, your knees pulled to your chest and your head resting on your legs as you gazed outside, a blanket wrapped snugly around you. He let out a small exhale of relief before calling out to you.

“(Name).”

You didn’t answer right away, leaving the two of you to sit in silence for a moment. Finally you mumbled back to him with a weak voice. “You can go back to bed. I’m fine.”

“Clearly you aren’t.” He paused, gauging your reaction. “I’ll go back to bed only if you come with me.”

You merely shrugged, unsure of what else to tell him. You couldn’t go back to bed now, not when your night terror still had a heavy grasp around your mind- and around your throat. Each breath seemed to ache more than the last. Fear wrapped its cold, sharp fingers around your throat and choked the air from your lungs relentlessly. 

He closed the distance between the two of you as he noted your reluctance, moving to sit across from you on the window seat. Here, sitting right next to you, he could see the tears that had taken residence on your cheeks as they reflected the moonlight. 

Byakuya didn’t need you to explain. He was well acquainted with your nightmares. He’d heard your sleep talking and felt your restless turning in the night. It was rare that you really got a peaceful sleep, and all too common for him to find you aimlessly trying to distract yourself in the middle of the night. Nonetheless, a remorseful pain tugged at his heart each time he found you like this. He was a know-it-all, but in times like these, he found himself without any answers for you. He didn’t know how to make the nightmares stop. He didn’t know how to cure your anxiety or your trauma. He didn’t know how to make you feel safe enough to rest well. But he knew he needed to be there for you. 

“What do you need from me?”

“Hold onto me.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. He reached out for you, and before he could even pull you closer, you were crawling into his lap and clinging to his shirt. Wrapping his arms around you tightly, he stayed quiet and still as he let you latch onto him as if your life depended on it. It felt like it did. 

With you pressed up against him like this, he could feel how forcefully you were shaking. You were silent but he was fairly certain you’d started crying again. It was times like these that made him feel more useless than ever. Byakuya was in control of every single aspect of his life. With just a few words he could change anything to be exactly the way he wanted- except with you. He was never quite sure what he was supposed to say when you were upset. Emotions weren’t exactly his area of expertise. 

He took a second to string some words together, but as he opened his mouth to speak, you beat him to it. 

“Please, don’t leave me.” 

The words he’d strung together fell apart. Byakuya wasn’t used to being at a loss for words. Everything directed towards him received some snarky or witty remark back, he didn’t even have to think about it. But your weak plea seemed to steal every last word away from him. Is that what you were scared of right now?

Sitting there with you in his lap, he realized that while he knew the way your nightmares made you feel and what they caused, he didn’t know what form your anxieties took most of the time. You rarely felt up to explaining them to him. With so few details to reference, he was left wondering. Had they appeared tonight as something about him? If they had, was it just common worry manifesting around a familiar person, or had he done something to upset you? Immediately his mind was racing. 

After realizing that it had been at least 30 seconds since you’d spoken, he suddenly rushed to stammer out a reply. “What do you mean?” 

He immediately scolded himself- that was the best answer he could come up with?

“I know I’m a mess, okay, I’m sorry- and I know dealing with this every night must be annoying and it would be easier if-”

“(Name).” His firm voice cut you off as he made you look at him. He couldn’t let you get any farther in that statement. “In the years we’ve been together, not once have I considered leaving.” 

Your lips quivered as you processed what he’d said. “But-”

He cut you off again, giving a stern look that served only to show you how much he meant it. “No ‘but’s. I have never wanted to leave you. You know how much I hate wasting time. I’m with you because I see a future for us. If I wanted to leave, I would have done so.”

You broke eye contact with him, very aware of the heat that had risen to your cheeks from his unusually heartfelt words. Suddenly you felt embarrassed for letting him see your insecurities. “I’m sorry,” you mumbled, voice muffled as you rubbed at your face with your sleeve. 

“Don’t apologize. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

He let you sit up for a few moments to compose yourself, but soon his arms wrapped around you again, wordlessly coaxing you back to lean into him. You melted into him easily, wrapping your arms around his torso as tightly as you could manage. With your head resting against his shoulder now, your gaze returned to the view outside. The stars seemed to twinkle more than usual as you laid against him. The nausea and discomfort from your dream lingered weakly and your skin still ached slightly, but an undeniable calm had hit you. There was a chance it was pure exhaustion, but you were fairly certain it was from his company.

“Can we stay here?” You spoke softly, hesitant to break the silence. 

He merely chuckled lightly, nodding before reaching to pull the blanket over the two of you. “I suppose- just this once.”


End file.
